Adjustable reamer and similar tool.



e. a. CHADWICK.

ADJUSTABLE REAMER AND SIMILAR TOOL.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 4. 1917.

1 2mm L Patented Se t. 18, 1917.

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ADJUSTABLE REAMER AND SIMILAR TOOL.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 4. um.

1,249,31 l Patented Sept. 18, 1917.

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GEORGE B. CHAQWIGK, 0F PQRTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

ADJUSTABLE REAMER AND SIMILAR TOOL.

Application filed April 4, 1917. Serial No. 159,636.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Gnoncn B. GHADWICK,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Portsmouth, in the county of Rockingham and State of New Hampshire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Adjustable Reamers and Similar Tools, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to reamers, taps and similar tools having blades which are ca able of radial adjustment to Vary the e ective diameter of the tool, and is intended to provide an improved arrangement for progressively adjusting the blades in such tools. The features of construction and arrangement in which my invention resides are hereinafter described in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of one form of reamer embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is mainly a central, longitudinal section through the same;

Fig. 3 is a'transverse section on the line 3-3 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a side view of an adjusting wedge hereinafter described;

Fig. 5 is a side elevation similar to Fig. 1, but illustrating a modification in the construction of the body portion of the reamer;

Fig. 6 is mainly a central longitudinal section through the reamer illustrated in Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a transverse section on the line 77 in Fig. 6, with the blades and adjusted devices removed; and

Fig. 8 is a similar transverse section with the blades and adjusting devices in place.

The reamer illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive comprises a driving mandrel 2 having at its front end a cylindrical enlargement 3 which constitutes a unitary part of the mandrel and is provided with radial notches 4 extending longitudinally through the enlargement and corresponding in number to the detachable blades 5 which the reamer is designed to take. The particular number of blades employed is immaterial, eight of them being shown. The

enlargement 3 is also provided on its rear face with a like number of projections 6 each located in line with one of the notches 4 and having its rear face slanted inward and forward, its outer face being flush with the bottom of the'correspond'ing notch. On

the mandrel 2 is mounted a cylindrical shell 7 provided. externally with longitudinallyextending grooves 8 which correspond in number, width and position with the notches 4 in the enlargement 3 but are enough deeper than said notches to receive the projections 6, so that the front end of the shell 1s adapted to abut against the rear face of the enlargement 3, with said projections lying in the front ends of the respective grooves 8. The shell 7 is clamped in this position by means of a nut 9 mounted on a threaded portion 10 of the andrel 2 and bearing against the rear end of the shell.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 18, 191B. '7, I

In each of the grooves 8 and the correall of the blades employed, which are exactly alike, are simultaneously clamped in place by means of a concave nut 11 mounted on an externally-threaded portion of the shell 7 and bearing against the slanting rear ends of the several blades in the usual way. In thespecific construction illustrated the front ends of the blades 5 project beyond the front face of the enlargement 3 and each blade has a longitudinal cutting edge 12 extending parallel with the axis of the reamer and a transverse cutting edge 13 at the front end of the blade, so that the tool is adapted to ream a cylindrical bore having a closed bottomand to face the bottom of the bore at its periphery, but so far as my present improvements are concerned it is immaterial whether the blades are shaped. to provide a cylindrical tool or a tapering tool, and whether their front ends project beyond the body portion of the tool or not.

As described thus far, the construction is substantially the same as that shown and described in U. S. Letters Patent No.

1,210,903, granted. to me on the second day of January, 1917, but instead of adjusting being located at the bottom of one of the the reamer the nut 11 is first loosened sufliinner longitudinal edge of theblade and the underlying body portion of the reamer when the blade is in cutting position. Each of the wedges 1a is adapted to slide longitudinally in the corresponding blade-receiving groove and has at its rear end a projection 15 which extends outward beyond the externally-threaded body portion of the reamer and lies between the opposed faces of'a pair ofadjusting nuts 16 and 17, so that by turning these nuts in one direction or the other the collective wedges may be moved simultaneously and to an equal extent in either direction, and preferably the opposed faces of the nuts 16 and 17 are provided with annular recesses which collec- 2O tively have a longitudinal dimension very slightly in, excess of the width of the projections 15, whereby each nut is adapted to serve as a lock nut for the other in any position of the wedges.

When it is desired to expand or contract ciently to unclamp the blades and provide for any necessary rearward movement thereof during adjustment and then the collective wedges 14 are moved forward or backward as the case may be, by turning the nuts 16 and 17 in the proper direction, thereby forcing the collective blades outward to expand the reamer or permitting them to be moved inward to contract the reamer. During adjustment each blade slides on the slanting rear surface of the corresponding projection 6 and thus has a slight endwise movement, and after the blades have been adjusted that one of the nuts 16 and 17 which is out of contact with the-projections 15 is caused to jamiagainst the other nut, whereby further movementof the wedges is prevented. The clamping nut 11 is then turned up tightly to hold down the rear ends of the blades, their front ends being held down by the engagement of the pro ections 6 with those portions of the respective blades which lie beneath them.

In the case of reamers which are so small that it is impracticable to include in the body portion a shell which is structurally distinct from the mandrel, the blade-ad--' justing arrangement above described may be utilized in connection with a body portion constructed as shown in Figs. 5 to '8 inclusive. In this case the driving mandrel 2 is provided with an enlarged portion 7' which takes the place of the shell 7 in Figs. 1 and 2 and is provided with the blade-recelvmg grooves -8, and the enlargement shown at3 in Figs. 1 and 2 replaced b a separate piece 3' provided with the notches 4 and theprojections 6 and centrally bored to receive a hub 18 on the front end of the mandrel 2, to which it is rigidly and permanently secured, preferably by electrically welding it thereto, in such manner that the parts 2 and 3' constitute a unitary structure. The blades 5, the blade-clamping nut 11, the wedges 14 and the adjusting nuts 16 and 17 are constructed and operate in the same way as the corresponding parts shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the enlarged portion 7" .being externally threaded at 1ts rear end t receive the nuts.

In each form of reamer above described the blades can be progressively adjusted with great accuracy and are effectively prevented from getting out of adjustment by locking the wedges in adjusted position as well as the blades themselves. It will be evident that the blade-adjusting be employed-in connection wit body portions constructed in various ways and utilized with like advantages in various tools having radially-movable blades.

1. A tool of the character described, comprising a body portion provided with blade-receiving grooves, a set of blades each located in one of the grooves and shaped to provide a tapering space between its means C811 inner edge and the bottom of the corresponding groove, a set of wedges each located in one of said tapering spaces and provided with an outwardly-extending pro-' jection, a pair of adjusting nuts mounted on the body portionwith the projections on the collective wedges located between them, and means for holding the bladesin adjusted position.

2. A tool of the character described, comprising a body portion provided'with blade-' IOC and constitute lock nuts for each other, and

means for holding the blades in adjusted position.

3. .A tool of the character described com: prising a body portion provided with blade- 'receiving grooves and with projections each located at one end of one ofthe grooves andhavin a slanting face overhanging the bottom 0 the groove, a set of blades eachlocated in one of the grooves and shaped to provide a tapering space between its inner edge and the bottom of the corresponding groove, each blade being provided with a j slanting face arranged to engage the slant ing face of the corresponding projection, a set of wedges each located in one of said tapering spaces and provided with an out wardly-extending projection, a pair of adjusting nuts mounted on the body portion with the projections on the collective wedges located between them, and a clamping nut located between the adjustin nuts and the adjacent ends of the blades or holding the w latter in adjusted position.

Signed at Portsmouth, New Hampshire this 2nd day of April, 1917.

GEORGE B. CHADWICK. 

